


enough

by radiantgem



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Insecurity, Platonic Relationships, the others are only mentioned but still
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-20
Updated: 2018-01-20
Packaged: 2019-03-07 08:42:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13431081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radiantgem/pseuds/radiantgem
Summary: “It’s not like we have a lot of time to train, with Xehanort and all.”Terra hummed. “That’s true.”“Which means I have to do well in my training, since everyone else is already a Keyblade Master. I have to catch up.” Kairi folded her hands together and fiddled with her thumbs. “I can’t mess this up.”





	enough

**Author's Note:**

> This is a birthday fic for two of my Internet friends :) I hope y'all like it!

_Come on. Breathe, and focus on your target._ Kairi slowly took a deep breath through her nose, and exhaled through her mouth. Her bangs were practically drenched with sweat, and she brushed them off to the side with her fingers. She tightened her grip on the hilt of her keyblade and ran towards one of the rings hanging in front of her. With a battle cry she slammed her blade against the ring as hard as she could, letting off a stream of combos until she saw the rings rapidly rotating. With her heart pounding in her chest and endorphins coursing through her body, she felt a little bit of pride blossom within her at the sight of the rings still spinning from her attack.

_This is good, but not enough. Maybe just a little more._

Kairi regained her battle stance and focused on one ring that she could hit, and clenched her keyblade with purpose. _Okay. Ready, set-_

“That’s enough for today Kairi. “

Kairi lightly flinched before she started to protest. “But-”

“You can’t help anyone out if you overwork your body.” Terra had an amused grin on his face as he walked over to her with a glass of water. “Trust me, I’ve tried.”

Kairi softly huffed as she dismissed her keyblade.  “Fine.” She took the glass from him and downed it in a few gulps, wiping her mouth of any streams of water that escaped. “And thank you, for the water.”

Terra shook his head lightly. “Don’t mention it.” He looked at the rings still spinning from Kairi’s last attack, and smiled proudly. “You did good today. I can tell your strength is increasing, or else these rings would’ve stopped spinning a lot sooner.”

Kairi smiled a little. “Yeah! I noticed they were spinning faster too. But I’m still a little shaky before hitting them. I guess it’s just my form.”

Terra nodded as he made his way towards the marble chairs. “Your form could use some work. You’re trying too hard to move your body, when it should be the other way around. Though that could be because  you’re at your limits right now.” He gave her a knowing look.

“Yeah I know.” Kairi sheepishly scratched her cheek. “It’s easier said than done though.”

“It’ll get easier with time, you’ll see.” Terra lightly patted her back. “It takes a while before you have your own style of fighting down.” He gave her an encouraging smile. “With how you’ve been improving though, it won’t be long.”

Kairi sighed in relief as she plopped onto the marble seat. “Good. I was a little worried about my progress.”

Terra made his way to the seat beside her and sat down. “Why is that?”

She shrugged. “It’s not like we have a lot of time to train, with Xehanort and all.”

Terra hummed. “That’s true.”

“Which means I have to do well in my training, since everyone else is already a Keyblade Master. I have to catch up.” Kairi folded her hands together and fiddled with her thumbs. “I can’t mess this up.”

Terra’s eyebrows furrowed. “No one expects you to be perfect at this you know. It typically takes years to train, and you’ve already made a lot of progress these past few weeks.”

“I know but- I just don’t want to be in the way.” She peeked at him to see his reaction, and was surprised to see a startled expression settle on his face.

“Did someone say something to make you think that?” He folded his hands together as he lowered himself til he was at eye level with her. His voice was careful, like he was treading on thin ice.

Kairi averted her gaze to stare at the grass. “It was a long time ago. And it wasn’t that serious. So please don’t be mad.”

“I won’t.” His voice was gentle.

“Well, it was around the time the worlds were falling to darkness. Sora was going to go off to fight Ansem, Xehanort’s heartless, and I wanted to go with him and help him. But he wouldn’t let me, he said it was too dangerous, and that I would kind of be in his way. And he was right, back then.” Kairi looked up at the leaves rustling in the wind. “I didn’t know I could wield a Keyblade at the time. I didn’t even know I could conjure up magic. I really wouldn’t have been any help to him, so I don’t blame him for being so against it.”

“But things are different now.”

She nodded. “Exactly. I know I can fight and fend for myself now. I can even play an active role in helping Sora out fighting against Xehanort but- I have to prove that I can.” She let out a frustrated sigh. “Both him and Riku still treat me as if I’m some delicate thing that’ll break easily. Well, Riku’s a bit better at letting me fight on my own, but Sora gets way too worried I’ll get hurt. It’s annoying.”

Terra chuckled into his palm. “Well, I can’t blame them for acting that way. Aqua and I were like that with Ven when we first started our journeys outside of home.” He had a bittersweet smile on his face. “We didn’t want him to get hurt, so we’d tell him to go back here. Even though he trained with us, we knew he could fight, but still. It was hard to realize he was growing up from the fragile kid who came in through those doors all those years ago.”

“Ven being fragile?” Kairi thought of a training session she saw between him and Sora, and was amazed to see how quick he was on the battlefield. He was able to swiftly dodge or parry most of Sora’s hits using the Keyblade alone, but when he used his powerful wind magic, she knew he was a force to be reckoned with. “I can’t even imagine that.”

“Trust me, the Ven who first came here was very different to the Ven you know now. And even though he’s gotten a lot stronger and skilled in battle, that doesn’t mean Aqua and I don’t worry about him. We don’t worry as much as we did before, but we still do it. And it’s what you do too, right?”

Kairi blinked. “What do you mean?”

“Well, now that Sora and Riku are Keyblade Masters, does that mean you don’t worry about them whenever they’re out doing a mission?”

“Of course I worry about them!”

“But they’ve proven themselves as strong enough to handle things more than once.”

“Yeah but-” Kairi let out an exasperated sigh. “Okay, you’ve made your point.”

Terra’s eyes twinkled with amusement as he let out a small huff of laughter. “They’ll always worry about you, just like you’ll always worry about them. But they’ll get better at it, with time.” A knowing smirk grew on his face. “Though it might take Sora longer, he seems to have a soft spot for you in general.”

“Oh-I, he-.” Kairi felt her face grow considerably warm. _Well this is embarrassing_.

Terra chuckled softly and reached over to playfully ruffle Kairi’s head. “I’m just teasing you. About having to prove yourself though,” he gave her an encouraging smile, “you’ve already proven you have what it takes to fight alongside all of us. All of your progress and your determination to always improve are clear indicators that you’ll be a great Keyblade Wielder. You’ll be a big help out in the battlefield, I know it.”

Kairi beamed as she rapidly blinked her eyes. She took his hand in a firm grip as he helped her from her seat. “Thank you, Master Terra. Really.”

Terra shook his head lightly. “Don’t mention it.”

“I have one question though.”

“What is it?”

“Did you mean what you said earlier? Did you really try to overwork yourself before?”

“Oh yeah, especially when I was young. I’m sure Aqua will have fun telling you all about it if you ask her.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I did a lot of stupid things at that age.”

“Why did you try to do it then?” Kairi peeked at his face. “If you knew it was stupid I mean.”  
Terra smiled down at her. “The same reason you almost tried to keep going just now. I wanted to prove myself.”

“Wait, what?” Kairi’s eyes widened. She wouldn’t think _he_ of all people felt insecure in their abilities. “Why?”

Terra sighed softly. “Aqua is gifted in magic. That has never changed. She was able to pick up the concepts much faster and has more stamina and range in terms of what and how much magic she can use before she runs out of energy.” He scratched his cheek sheepishly. “I was never _bad_ at magic, per se. There were a couple of spells that took some getting used to, but generally I was fine in it. Even now, I can use some spells that not even Aqua can incant, and the same is true for me. But at the time, all I could do was compare my magic to hers and I knew I could never get to her level. She could protect a lot of people using her magic. I could too, but not as much as her. So I tried to make it up with my physical strength.”

Kairi hummed as she took all of the information in. “Wow, I’m kind of surprised. That you felt that way I mean.”

Terra smiled down at her. “What? I can’t feel that way too?”

“Of course you can! It’s just- it’s different than how I know you now. You’re really strong now, and you can even summon meteors with your magic. It’s hard to imagine that you felt that way I guess.”

“Well, I still feel like that sometimes. I just deal with it in healthier ways now. Just like you should if you ever feel like that again.”

Kairi playfully rolled her eyes. “Yes _Dad_.”

Terra lightly scoffed and shook his head. “I’ve got to get Sora to stop spreading that nickname around. Now, let’s head back to the castle before Aqua starts accusing me of overworking you.” He reached his hand out to her. “She’ll say I’m a bad influence.”

Kairi couldn’t help the giggle escape from her mouth. She took his hand in a firm grip as she stood up and wobbled a bit. Without the adrenaline coursing through her veins, her legs felt heavy, and her arms kind of felt like noodles. But it was okay.

“Ready to go?”

Kairi nodded. “Yeah.” It was enough.


End file.
